Deuteronomy 31.8 “’Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the LORD your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you.’”

Dreams! Nightmares! The Boogie Man! The big, bad wolf! Do you remember your childhood fears? How about your children? Do they have bad dreams at night? Are they scared to go to sleep at night without the light on? We have all had those fears as a child or our child is having them. So what do we do with that fear? How can we not be scared?

These words in Deuteronomy were spoken by Moses to the people of Israel right before they were to enter the Promised Land. He is telling them, “Don’t worry about anything! God’s got this! He will always be with you. You just have to trust Him.” Moses knew that the people were scared, and not just because they were going to face obstacles in the land promised to them. They were going to cross the Jordan without him. Moses, their faithful and fearless leader of the past 40 years, was not going with them. God had told him he couldn’t enter because of his disobedience at the waters of Meribah. The people were panicked. “What do we do? How can we go in without Moses?”

Our children are going to have to face obstacles as they grow up. Mom and Dad aren’t always going to be there. When they face “an enemy” in the lunchroom, you won’t be there to hold their hand. When they are taking a test and are tempted to cheat, you won’t be there to tell them “no.” When they face those tough decisions between right and wrong, you may not be around or available to give them the answer. But…..”God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you.”

What a perfect lesson for our kids to learn from this verse. As a believer we have nothing to fear. John tells us perfect love casts out all fear. There is no obstacle too big for us to face if we trust the Lord to guide us. And if He is guiding us, He is also protecting us. Nothing can touch us unless He allows it. So who’s afraid of the big, bad wolf? Not me!